


Nobody's fool

by kellsbells



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-10-30 08:11:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10872720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellsbells/pseuds/kellsbells
Summary: Lena Luthor is nobody's fool. So when Rhea comes to her office with a 'business proposal' that sounds too good to be true, she knows there has to be a catch. But then Rhea tells her something about her best friend, Kara Danvers, and Lena wonders if she has been a fool this whole time, after all. Time to find out whether Lena is the hero or the villain...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SuperCorp fic, so go easy on me, please... I know this is not remotely canon-compliant, but I had the idea after seeing the promo for 2x20 and decided to give it a go. I should also point out that the portals in this fic are similar in size to the one Kara used to get to Slaver's Moon in Supergirl Lives, rather than the huge Stargate they went with in this week's episode. Many thanks to my beta, Splendonia, for her assistance with this fic. :)

* * *

 

Lena was sitting on the pristine couch in her office after a long day in the lab working on Rhea’s designs for a transmatter portal. Lena had the infrastructure the woman needed for the portal to work. She claimed it was so she could get home. Lena Luthor, however, was nobody’s fool.

 

She had known that Rhea wanted something, and she knew still that there was something – plenty, in fact – that Rhea wasn’t telling her. That’s why Lena was building in a backdoor to the system to ensure that it could be cut off at any time. Lena intended on giving access to the power system to the shadowy government types who worked with Supergirl, including Kara’s sister, Alex Danvers. She hadn’t had much to do with the DEO agent, but Alex had saved Lena’s life when she didn’t have to and she had actual ray of sunshine Kara Danvers as a sister. That meant that she was as trustworthy as anyone Lena had ever met.

 

Kara hadn’t had time to speak to her when Lena had called for advice, so Lena did what she did best. She weighed the options and she took a calculated risk. Rhea was playing on all of Lena’s weaknesses and Lena knew what that meant – that the woman was likely just as manipulative as Lillian Luthor, and therefore probably just as evil. But the technology – if Lena could perfect it, then L-Corp would officially be _the_ world leader in technology and in humanitarian aid. Lena could solve global warming in one fell swoop, not to mention famine and drought. All it would take was to sell access to the portals at a reasonable rate. Rich people could pay a premium for their own portal, and the masses could pay a medium price to step from Dublin to Dubai in a matter of seconds.  And those genuinely in need? The technology would pay L-Corp handsomely enough that they would be able to give the technology to those who needed it. Refugees could be evacuated from war zones in a matter of minutes, water and food and medicine could be brought to places in the middle of nowhere with ease. And again, Lena Luthor wasn’t anyone’s fool. The military applications could change the balance of power across the globe, if she let it be used that way. An ambush using this technology could be devastating.

 

But back to Rhea. The woman was up to something, and Lena was reasonably certain that she already had the means to get herself back to her home planet. So the purpose of the portals was something else.

 

Lena needed to get in touch with Supergirl. She sent a quick text to Kara, wondering once again why Kara had been chosen as the superhero’s go-to journalist. Kara hadn’t even been a journalist for a year. How did they meet, Lena wondered. Was Kara an alien too? Or was there some other link between them that Lena hadn’t figured out yet?

 

Supergirl arrived promptly, landing on Lena’s balcony about ten minutes later.

 

“You wanted to see me?” Supergirl asked, her eyes crinkled as she smiled in genuine happiness at seeing Lena.

 

Lena could never get used to the Kryptonian’s open and pleasant personality. She had expected polite distance at best from Superman’s younger cousin, and had instead been greeted by a woman who seemed to understand Lena better than most of her so-called friends ever had.

 

“Supergirl! Thank you for coming,” Lena said, with a genuine smile on her own face.

 

“Of course, Miss Luthor. What can I do for you?” she asked.

 

“Well, I was hoping to ask your advice, actually,” Lena began, but before she could continue, Rhea, her ostensible benefactor, transported onto her balcony and stepped into her office without waiting to be invited. The look on her face was… almost rabid. She looked nothing like the strong, intelligent woman who had offered Lena a ‘business opportunity’.

 

Supergirl stood in front of Lena, clearly protecting her from Rhea.

 

“This is why I called you, actually,” Lena said, quietly. Supergirl turned her head to look at Lena quizzically.

 

“You called because you knew the Queen of Daxam was coming here?” Supergirl asked.

 

“No. I didn’t know she was the queen of anywhere,” Lena said. “I wanted to know if I should trust her.”

 

“The last time I trusted her, welcomed her to my home, she stabbed me with a Kryptonite blade,” Supergirl said, heatedly, turning back to glare at the Daxamite. “So I’d have to say a hard ‘no’ to trusting her.”

 

“You are a fine one to talk about trust, _Supergirl,”_ Rhea sneered. “You prance around in that ridiculous costume as if you are their saviour, and yet you lie to them about who you really are.”

 

“I keep my identity private, Queen of Daxam, so that I can have a life of my own besides the life of a superhero. That is not a crime. I even pay taxes,” Supergirl said.

 

For some reason, Lena’s heart was beating hard in her chest. Not from fear. She didn’t believe that either woman would harm her – or at least, Rhea wouldn’t harm her while Lena was still useful to her. But there was something here, an undercurrent. Rhea knew something about Supergirl’s secret identity. Lena suddenly didn’t want to know.

 

“You, Kara Zor-El, are a liar and as much of a hypocrite as your parents were, may Rao burn them to ashes.”

 

Kara Zor-El gasped and her fists clenched. Rhea smiled and bared her teeth.

 

“Or should I say Kara Danvers, best friend of Lena Luthor? A best friend who you haven’t even had the decency to inform that you are an alien. You misjudge her, Kara Zor-El, as you have misjudged me,” Rhea said, and now she was looking at Lena, with a faux-plaintive expression. Lena, who felt as if she’d been hit with a million volts of electricity. Kara _was_ Supergirl.  She felt like such an idiot. How could she not have seen it? She’d known Kara was different; that much was clear from day one. But she could have been on the autistic spectrum, she could have been an alien of another type, she could have been unusual for any number of reasons. The idea that she was Supergirl just had never entered Lena’s mind at all.

 

“Is this true? Are you Kara Danvers?” Lena asked, as Supergirl turned to face her. She didn’t even need to hear the answer. It was clear that she was Kara; there was the scar over her left eye, and the crinkle in her forehead that was always there when she was sad or worried.

 

“I’m sorry, Lena. I wanted to tell you.”

 

“Well. I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve lied to me. After all, that’s what you do, you Supers. Swoop in and take everything from me and still expect me to help you whenever you need it?”

 

“Lena, it’s not like that,” Kara said, holding a hand out, pleading. Lena stepped back, frozen.

 

“You took Jack from me. I saved your life instead of his, Supergirl. And you don’t even care enough about me to be honest with me. I stood up to my own family for you, Kara. I… I can’t talk to you anymore. Just… just go.”

 

“Be careful, Lena. She can’t be trusted,” Kara whispered, before walking away.

 

Lena turned, lifting her glass from her desk, squeezing the bridge of her nose between her finger and thumb with her free hand. This was a lot to process. She heard the familiar snap of the cape as Supergirl – no, _Kara_ _-_ took off from her balcony.

 

“I’m so sorry, Lena my dear. She is unworthy of you. And unworthy of my son. You are a much better match for a man like Mon-El,” Rhea said, touching Lena’s shoulder gently. Lena forced herself to stay relaxed and not pull away from the touch.

 

Mon-El would be Mike of the Interns, then. The dudebro asshole who, Lena was astonished to find out, was dating Kara. And now Rhea was suggesting that Lena should be with him. She managed, somehow, not to laugh at the idea.

 

“I can’t believe she would lie to me,” Lena said, tears coming unforced to her eyes. It was a hell of a shock.

 

“I know, dear. Kryptonians seem to think they’re better than us simply because they had technology we didn’t. Not that it did them any good in the end. They destroyed their planet and almost took ours with it,” Rhea said bitterly. Lena turned to look at her. Rhea was genuinely bitter about what had happened.

 

Lena sat down on the couch wearily.

 

“Tell me your story, Queen Rhea of Daxam,” Lena said.

 

Rhea sat next to her, watching her carefully, and told the story of Krypton’s last days. Of the widespread destruction on Daxam, the loss of so many people.

 

“I don’t blame Kara Zor-El for her parents’ sins, Lena. But she is a Kryptonian and I cannot allow her to keep my son from me. He is meant for so much more,” Rhea said, when she had finished her tale.

 

“I understand,” Lena said, through frozen lips. She did understand. Lena Luthor was nobody’s fool.

 

They worked hand in hand to create the interface for Lena’s power systems and Rhea’s transmatter portals. The coding was part Daxamite, a language which Lena had to learn on the fly over the weeks that they worked together, and part was in a coding language that Lena and Lex had invented together not long after she moved in with the Luthors. That meant that no-one but Lena or Lex could manipulate the code. As an additional security measure, she invented yet another coding language for the most important sections of the interface. Which meant she would be the only person able to manipulate it in any way. The Daxamite Queen watched her, but said nothing. Because they had established trust between them, now. Kara was a common enemy. Lena worked the clock round and, when Rhea was gone, she worked on a side project. One that would be the deciding factor, probably, given Rhea and Kara’s past behaviours.

 

It was time to switch on the first portal, and as a gesture of their mutual trust, Rhea had agreed to let Lena choose the destination. She chose a place in Sudan where she knew that water, food and medicine were in short supply. The portal worked perfectly, and the LCorp guards ensured that no-one stole from anyone else. The area was rife with warlords. At least she could ensure that these people had enough food and water for a few days, and medicine to treat their worst ailments. It was a drop in the ocean, but as a declaration of intent, and good press for LCorp, it was a triumph. She saw Kara Danvers standing near the back of the group of reporters and newscasters. Their eyes met, Kara’s troubled and dark. Lena gave her a very deliberate wink and saw Kara nod, once, thoughtfully before she turned back to the portal. She switched it off and gave a speech that went off, for once, without a hitch. No-one tried to assassinate her, not a single person swore at her or spat at her. It was… anti-climactic.

 

“So, Lena. It appears that everything went off with a hitch,” Rhea said later, when they were sipping an extremely expensive single malt that Lena had been saving for a special occasion.

 

“It does,” Lena said, with a small smirk.

 

“So you agree that it’s time for the next phase of the plan?” Rhea asked.

 

“Absolutely,” Lena said smoothly, reaching over to clink her glass against Rhea’s.

 

“To trust and friendship,” Rhea said, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

 

“To trust,” Lena agreed, taking a long sip of the smoothest Scotch she’d ever tasted. It was a delight. She thought that Kara’s face would be a delight, too, once she realised what was happening.

 

***

 

_4 weeks before Rhea_

_“Hey, Kara. What’s up?” Lena asked, answering her phone distractedly. She’d been concentrating hard on the R &D budget and now could barely see past the end of her own nose. _

_“Hey, Lena. I know it’s totally last minute but Mike was supposed to be taking me to see this movie and he totally bailed on me when he realised no-one shoots anyone. He’s gone to play video games with some Castithans he met at the bar… I mean Californians? Anyway I’m kind of at a loose end, and I haven’t seen you in days, so I…”_

_“Kara. I would love to see you. Let me just finish what I’m doing and I’ll come see you,” Lena said. “Are you home, or still at the movie theatre?”_

_“I’m on my way home,” Kara said. There was a strange whooshing sound in the background, but Lena paid it no mind. She knew Kara was different but until Kara wanted to share her secrets with Lena, Lena would respect her privacy._

_“Okay. I’ll see you there,” Lena said._

_She arrived at Kara’s about 30 minutes later, and Kara hugged her for a full minute before letting her go. She looked like she’d been crying._

_“What’s wrong, Kara? Is this because Mike ditched you for video games? Because that doesn’t seem like something you’d normally be too upset about,” Lena said, smiling sympathetically as she used her thumbs to wipe the tears from Kara’s cheeks gently. Her eyes were so incredibly blue, dark like sapphires, but somehow shining brighter because of the depth of that colour._

_“He’s just so selfish, Lena. It’s not just this, it’s…. it’s everything, you know? He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and when we’re together all he wants to do is have sex or fight, and…”_

_She seemed to realise what she’d said then, and backtracked a little, jabbering about how she sparred with Mike because they were taking Tae Kwan Do._

_“I understand, Kara. I don’t know Mike very well, but it seems like you want different things out of a relationship. You want the cuddling and talking and watching movies,” Lena said, thinking ‘you know, the stuff you do with me,’ “and it seems like Mike maybe is more interested in the physical side of things. Maybe you guys should have a talk?” she said, hugging Kara gently from the side. She led her friend gently to the couch._

_“Come on, let’s watch a movie or something. Have you got snacks?” Lena asked, knowing the answer._

_Kara looked at her, a smirk on her face._

_“Do you even know me at all, Lena Luthor?” she said, standing and walking to the kitchen where she put together an astonishing array of food. Popcorn, 3 types of chips, dip, m &ms, and a plate of potstickers that she must have reheated. Only Lena didn’t hear the microwave beep once. Not even for the popcorn. Lena bit her lip to keep from smiling. Kara was very, very bad at hiding the fact that she wasn’t entirely (if at all) human. _

_There was a movie on already when Kara switched her television on. It was I, Robot. Neither of them had seen it so they settled in to give it a go. Lena had too much snack food. Way too much. She was groaning by the end of the movie._

_Kara liked the movie, a lot._

_“He’s so cute, the way he’s learning how to be, like, human? And the wink thing that he does at the end, to show he’s really on their side? It’s… Rao, I love that movie,” Kara said, adjusting her glasses and looking far away for a long moment._

_“Yeah. Wow,” Lena said, not able to resist teasing Kara a little. She wondered who Rao was. A god, of some sort. From where, Lena wasn’t sure. But Kara blushed, wide-eyed, as she realised what she’d said._

_“Wow. Totally wow,” Kara said, nodding repeatedly, as if that would erase the use of the strange word – again – in Lena’s presence._

_They watched a few episodes of a comedy show that Kara liked, that had both of them laughing out loud, and then Lena had to go home. She could tell that Kara wanted to ask her to stay, but that she was expecting Mike to come back there later. This was all communicated in small movements of her eyes, the hunching of her shoulders, the playing with the frame of her glasses._

_“I should go, Kara,” Lena said, finally._

_“You… yeah. Of course. You have work, and I have… Mike,” Kara said, eventually._

_“Remember what I said, Kara. Talk to him, okay? If you’re not getting what you want from the relationship then you need to say something,” Lena said seriously._

_“Yeah. You’re right, of course you are,” Kara said, nodding, looking anywhere but at Lena’s face. She wasn’t going to have any sort of talk with Mike, or Mon-whatever his name was. Lena wished Kara would stand up for herself._

_“Okay. Goodnight, Kara,” Lena said, leaving Kara behind her reluctantly after a hug that was far too long to come under the heading of ‘just friends’._

 

***

 

The day when Rhea was going to use the Transmatter Portal to ‘go home’ dawned bright and sunny, like most days in National City. Lena hoped that she had thought of everything. Otherwise she was about to be complicit in something she could never come back from. LCorp had already built hundreds of transmatter portals and they were being shipped out across the world to create a network. Rhea only needed to use one, of course. But since she was being transported (along with the crew complement of the ship they’d used to get here) across the galaxy, she needed most of the power from Lena’s power array. Or that was her story, at least. Lena was poised, and she hoped that she wasn’t the only one. Otherwise the name Luthor was going to mean something much worse than it already did.

 

She had to give Rhea the benefit of the doubt, of course. Allow her to use the array, allow her to make the transport using the complex spacial co-ordinates she insisted on entering herself to ensure that she made it safely to Daxam. It came as little surprise to Lena when Rhea pressed the final key with a flourish and a small voice in Lena’s ear said “All portals are now active.” It was Jess, monitoring the network from a location far, far away from National City.

 

“Okay!” Lena said, clapping her hands as if with excitement. It was a pre-arranged signal, however. Jess was now going to send all of the necessary information to the DEO and the NCPD. Alex Danvers should be standing by to enter the necessary command strings in case Lena should be incapacitated. She had only to use her code word, Sonny, or to stop responding at all, and then the DEO would take over.

 

“Are you ready to make the trip home, Queen of Daxam?” Lena asked with a smile.

 

“Actually, Lena… there’s been a change of plan. You see, Daxam is half-dead now, thanks to those Kryptonians and their reckless mining. This world is beautiful and ripe for the taking. So that’s what I’m going to do,” Rhea said, smiling evilly.

 

“You’re coming to take this world from humans because, what? It’s sunny?” Lena asked. It was close enough that Jess should accept it.

 

“Sonny protocol initiated. Good luck, Ms Luthor,” Jess said quietly in her ear. Lena breathed out a soft sigh of relief. No matter what happened to her, the failsafes she’d set up should be enough to save the earth from the Daxamites. Daxamites who were now pouring through the portal in front of her.

 

“You are going to make a fine wife for my son,” Rhea said, conversationally, as two of her guards wordlessly flanked Lena, grabbing her roughly by her upper arms. That was going to bruise, she could tell.

 

“I’m sorry, Rhea. But my heart is already taken,” Lena said, her face smooth. “I’ve met your son, by the way. I know you believe that Kara is the reason he left you. I don’t really care about that, one way or another. But I will tell you that your son is possibly one of the most useless and unpleasant beings I’ve had the misfortune to meet. So I’m afraid I won’t be agreeing to marry him.”

 

“Whether you agree or not is immaterial,” Rhea hissed, grabbing Lena’s chin roughly. “You will marry him and you will produce many, many heirs for Daxam. It’s a shame that I’m going to have to kill your Supergirl; a child that’s half Kryptonian and half Daxamite would be a strong heir here on this planet.”

 

“You don’t have to kill her. She hasn’t done anything to you,” Lena said, pleading.

 

“She took away my son,” Rhea said, through gritted teeth.

 

“From what I heard, he made that decision all by himself,” Lena said. Rhea backhanded her across the face and Lena blacked out for a little while.

 

When she came to the DEO had landed, in force, and they were holding off the Daxamites with lead bullets while several large helicopters hovered above. Lena was being held up still by her two guards, but Rhea was nowhere to be seen.

 

As Lena’s vision cleared, she saw someone on the DEO side letting off a red flare. Lena saw something being lowered from the bottom of each helicopter. It looked like a lighting rig from a theatre, one hanging from each hovering vehicle. Suddenly the lights all switched on at once. Red lights. Red sun lamps, specifically.

 

The tide of the battle in front of Lena changed immediately. The Daxamites had been knocking DEO soldiers out left and right, but as soon as the light emanating from the battlefield hit them, it was the Daxamites who were falling.

 

Lena pressed a button on the inside of the rings on her middle fingers, feeling prongs sticking out. She turned her hands, palm outwards, so that they were touching the legs of her guards, and pressed the button again. Each guard collapsed in a heap, victim of her newest self-defence invention, the Raser™ (patent pending). Fitting the required wiring into a ring was a stretch, but she managed it eventually. After knocking herself out several times, of course. In the name of science.

 

Lena looked out over the park they’d chosen as the setting for the first intergalactic transmatter portal, seeing nothing but devastation. It was time for her to enact the rest of her plan. She needed somewhere safe, firstly. She sent a quick message to Jess who sent one of her ex-military drivers to pick her up near the park. The car was heavily armoured; not that it would stop Rhea if she tried to find Lena, but it should slow her down at least. Lena pulled out the heavily encrypted laptop from under the seat and logged in to the system she’d set up to control the portals.  She found the central layer of code, the language she’d developed specifically for this purpose, and she changed several lines. Reversed them, specifically.

 

She was just about ready to enter the code when something landed on top of the car and her driver, Davis, started driving evasively. Lena was strapped in, the laptop securely in her hands, but she couldn’t quite press the ‘enter’ key because they were turning a corner so fast that she could barely move. Then the car crashed into something solid, and Lena lost her grip on the laptop and it slid into the corner of the car furthest from her. As soon as she could breathe again, having been flung forward in her seat against the seat belt, she unclipped herself and dived across the floor of the car for the laptop, hearing tearing sounds on the roof. Rhea.

 

She pulled open the laptop, groaning when she realised that she had to scan her retina and fingerprint again. It took precious seconds, but then it let her back in and she pressed enter, breathing out a huge sigh of relief. The Daxamites who had come through her portals were all gone, alive or dead, sucked back to their place of origin, wherever that was. Now she just hoped that Kara was around to take care of Rhea, because the Queen didn’t seem like the forgiving type.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhea finds Lena, and things do not go particularly well...

* * *

_2 weeks before Rhea_

_Lena was on her way to Kara’s again, after receiving a ‘Kara 911’ text from Alex. Alex Danvers was the stoic type, so if she thought this was an emergency, it was an emergency. Lena had her gun and her taser, not that she believed this would be an emergency that would be resolved with weapons. Agent Danvers was well-armed enough for several people on a normal day. But Lena had panicked a little when she got the text._

_She was just about to knock on the door when Kara tore it open, throwing herself forward into Lena’s arms with a sob. Lena tightened her arms around Kara reflexively, just managing to keep them both upright with the help of a well-placed heel._

_“Kara? What happened, sweetheart?”_

_Kara said some incomprehensible words in Lena’s ear just as Alex appeared in the doorway._

_“What’s going on?” Lena mouthed to Alex._

_“Frat boy,” Alex mouthed back, and Lena rolled her eyes._

_“Kara, sweetie. Why don’t we go inside and we can cuddle under a blanket and you can tell me what happened?” Lena said in her sweetest, most loving voice. Kara nodded, her face still buried in Lena’s hair. Lena shuffled along, Kara attached to her like a limpet, and they eventually made it to the couch where an anxious Maggie was hovering. Alex took Lena’s coat from her with difficulty, since Kara wasn’t about to let go, and went to order some Chinese food and pizza, Kara’s go-to meal when she was upset. Lena didn’t like the potstickers much, she had realised after the first time she tried them. (She still didn’t know why everyone at game night had stared at her when she asked Kara if she could try one of the dumplings and Kara had given it to her. What was so weird about that? They shared food all the time.)_

_Kara cried against Lena’s neck for another fifteen or twenty minutes, and Lena gave up trying to get her to talk, just rubbing her back steadily and talking nonsense to her about what had happened at L-Corp that day and how Jess had thrown someone out of the building personally when they dared to try to get into Lena’s office without an appointment. Kara chuckled a little, then, and Lena realised that she was coming out of her hysterical crying jag._

_“You want to tell me what happened, honey?” she asked, quietly, stroking Kara’s hair._

_And she did. Mon-El was not who he said he was, and his parents were awful and his mom had slapped Kara, apparently. Lena was pretty sure that Kara was going to say ‘stabbed’ and that made her wonder who this ‘Mon-El’ really was._

_“Do I need to file a lawsuit, Kara? People can’t just hit you because they don’t want you dating their son,” Lena said, concerned._

_“It’s not… we can’t. I don’t want to, I mean,” Kara said, mumbling and fiddling with her glasses._

_“Okay, sweetie. I’m so sorry. So I guess you and Mike are done, now?” Lena asked._

_“Yeah. Definitely. Asshole,” Kara muttered, and Lena tried not to laugh. Mike/Mon-El really was an asshole, but that was the first time she’d ever heard Kara call anyone worse than ‘jerk-guy’._

_“Kara, honey. He’s been treating you so badly, darling. You know you deserve better than that, don’t you?” Lena said, and Kara clung to her even harder. Lena hadn’t meant herself; she wasn’t trying to win Kara for herself. She did believe that Kara deserved a lot better that Mike of the Interns, though._

_“Lena’s right, Kara. You deserve someone who appreciates every aspect of you and will stand at your side no matter what. Not just when they feel like it,” Alex said, and she was looking right at Lena, then, because Kara’s face was still buried in Lena’s hair. It was as if Alex was trying to tell her something, and Lena wasn’t sure what._

_“I guess,” Kara said, into Lena’s neck. Lena shivered a little from the feeling. She was pretty sure she heard Maggie snicker, just then, but she ignored it to focus on Kara._

_It took another twenty minutes to coax Kara out from Lena’s arms, and it was only because the potstickers arrived that she moved at all, or so Alex whispered to Lena later._

_“You guys are close,” Alex murmured, as she watched Maggie plate up their food, Kara eating directly from the containers because she was unable to wait._

_“She’s my best friend,” Lena said, wistfully. She wished Kara could be more than her friend but clearly she’d been barking up the wrong (straight) tree._

_“She really depends on you,” Alex remarked. “I’ve never seen her so clingy with anyone before. Other than me, but she is my sister.”_

_“Hmm,” Lena murmured. She didn’t take her eyes off Kara, who was currently eating potstickers that had to be hot enough to burn, given how much steam was coming from them. Kara didn’t notice, and Alex sighed ruefully next to Lena._

_“She never realises, when you’re here. I taught her to be careful, to hide, but she just forgets it all when she sees you. Why is that, Lena?” Alex asked, shaking her head ruefully._

_“I don’t know,” Lena said. “And I promise I will never betray her, Alex. Never, for any reason. When she’s ready to tell me her secrets, I’ll be here to listen. But I won’t pry and I won’t say a thing, okay?”_

_Alex nodded, looking at Lena as if she was weighing her. “Okay,” Alex said._

_Alex and Maggie left after they all watched a movie, but Kara insisted that Lena stay._

_“Just in case. If he comes back, I know I’ll cave, Lena,” she said, and Lena was powerless in the face of that pout. She just nodded, hoping that Kara had at least changed the bedcovers since Mike had slept in the bed (a thought which made her faintly nauseated). She fell asleep with Kara wrapped around her, and their friendship had only brought them closer since then. Until Rhea._

***

 

Rhea ripped the roof from the car with one hand, a triumphant smirk on her face.

 

“Lena. How pleasant to see you again,” she said, dropping in to the main body of the car. She reached through the shattered remains of the partition to grab the driver’s head, knocking it against the steering wheel and rendering him unconscious.

 

“Rhea,” Lena said, inclining her head politely. She had blood in her eyes. She didn’t even remember hitting her head. She wiped it away irritably.

 

“Always so polite. I do like you very much, Lena Luthor. You would have made a fine Queen, had you been my daughter. But in the circumstances, I believe I’m going to have to crush your fragile human skull, to repay you for your betrayal,” Rhea said.

 

“Betrayal?” Lena asked, laughing. “You used my technology to bring soldiers from your world to invade earth. I’d say that was a little beyond the scope of our original agreement, which was to get you home to your own planet,” Lena said, pushing herself up and discarding her laptop. She sat down gingerly on the edge of the seat, watching as Rhea stalked towards her. “You betrayed me, Queen of Daxam. All I did was to send your soldiers back to where they came from.”

 

“Is that so? And what about Supergirl’s black-suited soldiers appearing in seconds after the portals were opened? What about the fact that each portal was heavily guarded, even the ones in transports on their way to various places in your world? Where did these apes come up with the technology that weakened my soldiers? I sense your input there, Lena,” Rhea said, her eyes narrowed.

 

“Preventative measures only, to ensure that the technology didn’t fall into the wrong hands. And the red sun lamps – they would never have been needed if you hadn’t betrayed me. You may kill me, Queen of Daxam, but you will never justify my death, no matter how you try to spin it. All I did was to protect my world. You made the choice to invade it.”

 

“Hmm. You might be right, Lena Luthor. I suppose killing you is a little… harsh. After all, you are still a wonderful match for Mon-El, with your mind and your looks. Your children will grow up to rule Daxam, Lena,” Rhea said, with a triumphant smirk. She moved forward faster than thought, and grabbed Lena before jumping out of the car and high into the air. She couldn’t fly, but she was able to move in huge leaps, covering maybe a mile or so in each jump. That was as much as Lena was able to glean as she was pulled along at breakneck speed, powerless in the arms of yet another villain.

 

It wasn’t long before their headlong flight was stopped by a blur of red and blue that grabbed Lena, setting her down gently in the park near where the DEO were clearing up the damage caused by the Daxamites. Kara looked at her for a second before blurring into the sky at a dizzying pace, her red/blue blur meeting a grey/black blur that hit her hard, knocking her into the park bandstand.

 

The DEO began to evacuate those who were still in the park, but Lena stayed where she was, calling to an agent she vaguely recognised.

 

“Ma’am?” the woman asked, peering at Lena curiously.

 

“I’m Lena Luthor, Agent?”

 

“Vasquez, Ma’am. And I know who you are. I know you’re the reason that those aliens were sent back home. What can I do for you?”

 

Lena stared at Agent Vasquez for a moment before replying.

 

“Did Alex - Agent Danvers – did she manage to create any of those handheld grenades?” Lena asked. “Just in case.”

 

“Of course. She did, Ma’am. Here,” Vasquez said, pulling several grenades from various pockets on her uniform. “You should get out of here, Miss Luthor. The Daxamite lady is mad.”

 

“I know. But she also wants me,” Lena said. “So, just in case?” she held up a grenade in one hand with a broad smile. “I really, really want to punch her in the face.”

 

Agent Vasquez smiled widely, an odd look on her face, and saluted before running off to evacuate some of the other civilians in the area. Lena watched the battle unfolding above and around her. Rhea landed in front of her a few minutes later, pulling two blades from holsters on her thighs. Green blades. Kryptonite.

 

“Leave Kara alone, Rhea!” Lena pleaded, grasping at Rhea’s robes. “She didn’t do anything to deserve this.”

 

Rhea backhanded Lena casually, not as hard as the first time, but hard enough to make her vision double.

 

“She lives, after her people foolishly destroyed their own world and nearly took mine with it. That’s enough reason for her to die,” Rhea said.

 

Kara chose that moment to land between Rhea and Lena. She was clearly fatigued, and her lip was bleeding.

 

“Kara! Are you okay?” Lena asked, from her prone position on the ground.

 

“I’m fine, Lena. Stay back, please,” Kara said, turning to face Rhea, looking resigned at the Kryptonite blades. “Always with the Kryptonite, huh?” she said, to the universe.

 

“It’s time for you to die, Kara Zor-El,” Rhea said, circling slowly, clearly relishing the moment.

 

“No. It’s time for you to go home, Queen of Daxam, and rebuild your home with your son,” Kara said wearily.

 

Rhea scoffed loudly before leaping forward and striking, hard, with the Kryptonite knife in her right hand.

 

It broke off as it touched Kara’s skin, and the fractured Kryptonite blade landed on the ground next to Lena with a glassy tinkle.

 

“What? How did you?” Rhea stared, open-mouthed, at the broken blade in her hand.

 

“I didn’t. She did,” Kara said, with a smirk, indicating Lena with a thumb. “She’s a genius, you know. She came up with an antidote to Kryptonite poisoning. Not only can it not harm me if I ingest it somehow, but my new suit absorbs the radiation harmlessly.”

 

Rhea turned to gape at Lena. And then she did the last thing Kara expected, because Kara was a little too slow to stop her. Lena saw it coming, however, and she removed the pin from the grenade in her pocket. Rhea fell on her, stabbing her in the chest with the remaining Kryptonite blade. The blade’s radiation didn’t harm her, of course, but the blade itself certainly did. It felt like a punch in the chest, and then there was a flash and distant pain in Lena’s hip and then… nothing.

 

_***_

_“Lena?”_

_“Hello, Kara. Is everything okay?”_

_“I… yeah. I just… are you busy?”_

_“Never too busy for you, Kara. You know that.”_

_“I… I can’t sleep. He came back last night and tried to get me to sleep with him. He stays away when you’re here, Lena.”_

_“I’m on my way, Kara.”_

_It was the fourth night that week that Kara had called her. Lena had gone home the night before to get some rest in her own bed, where she wasn’t plagued by all the things that Kara did to her, the way she touched Lena so casually, the way she wrapped around her in bed, the way she smelled… Lena just needed a break from it, so she didn’t do something stupid. Like kiss Kara, or confess her love._

_She called her driver and was at Kara’s door 22 minutes later. Kara’s eyes were red-rimmed, as they had been each time Lena had seen her since Mon-El had done – well, whatever it was that he had done. Lena still wasn’t clear on the details, and she hadn’t enquired any further so that Kara didn’t tie herself in knots trying to explain things._

_“Oh, darling. I’m so sorry,” Lena said, and Kara threw herself forward and into Lena’s arms again, the way she had each night. Lena led her gently to the couch and sat her down, letting Kara cry on her shoulder again until she had cried herself out. Then Lena wrapped her up in a blanket and went to make one of the fruity teas that Kara liked, with plenty of honey. She led Kara to her bedroom and sat next to her as they drank their tea in companionable silence. Then they lay down together, Kara wrapped securely around Lena, and Lena braced herself for another night of exquisite torture. Kara Danvers was killing her._

_***_

  
“Lena. Lena? Come on, Lena. Wake up.”

 

Lena stirred, reaching out for Kara, not finding anyone next to her. Where was Kara? She moved a little too far and her chest _burned,_ suddenly. What was going on?

 

“Lena. Come on. Wake up. You scared us, Luthor,” the voice said. It was a little raspier than usual, but she recognised it. Alex.

 

“Alex?” she whispered, and a hand touched hers.

 

“Yeah. Don’t try to talk, Lena. You were hurt. Bad.”

 

Alex’s voice wavered on the last word.

 

“Kara?” Lena whispered.

 

“She’s fine. A little beat up and tired. But alive, thanks to you.”

 

“Thank god,” Lena breathed. She shifted a little and her right side, where the grenade had gone been, screamed in protest.

 

“What happened?” she said, still in a whisper. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

 

“Rhea stabbed you. And you let off a red sun grenade right in her face. She was just as powerless as a human, then, and thanks to the shields you designed, Kara kept her powers. She knocked Rhea out, and now she’s in a cell in the deepest part of the DEO.”

 

“Good,” Lena rasped. “But what happened to me?”

 

“You… you were stabbed in the chest. It was pretty touch-and-go there for a while. But the doc says you should recover fully.”

 

“Why does my hip hurt so bad?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know, Lena. Maybe because you set off a grenade in your pocket?” Alex said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

 

Lena opened one eye carefully and levelled a glare at the elder Danvers.

 

“What. Happened. To. My. Hip?”

 

“Fine,” Alex sighed. “You almost disintegrated your hip bone and half of your femur. There was some damage to your pelvic girdle too. You’re now 10% titanium, along with some other secret ingredients that you’ll have to sign an NDA to read about. You’ll heal. It will be painful for a while, but you should regain complete use of the joint.”

 

“Okay,” Lena said, sighing and letting her eye drift closed again. “Is everyone else okay?”

 

“Yes. Everyone’s fine. Some minor injuries, mostly broken bones from the fight with the Daxamites. But no-one died. Yours were the worst injuries, actually.”

 

“My driver?” Lena asked, as sleep beckoned and she began to drift.

 

“In NC general with a concussion. He’s in good hands. Nothing too serious.”

 

“Thanks Alex,” Lena said, before drifting away again.


	3. Chapter 3

_Kara was kissing her. Kara was kissing her like Lena had always dreamed she would, and her lips were so soft! Lena had kissed girls before, of course, but no-one had ever made her feel like this. Breathless and floaty, as if she could fly without Kara carrying her._

_Because of course Kara was Supergirl. Lena had been blinded by her love, hadn’t seen the obvious physical similarities (and the damn scar above her eyebrow), hadn’t recognised the voice when it wasn’t stuttering and uncertain. When Kara spoke as Supergirl, she was so_ sure. _She could almost be harsh. And Kara Danvers could no more be harsh than Lena could be soft and cuddly._

_So Kara was kissing her, and Lena had no idea how they’d come to be here, how they’d started this, who had kissed who. But she didn’t care, giving herself up to it with reckless abandon. She wanted to stay here forever, with Kara kissing her that way, Kara’s tongue sliding into her mouth, Kara’s hands on her…_

_***_

“Ahem. Miss Luthor. I’m sorry to disturb you.”

 

It was a gruff voice. Alex’s boss, the gentleman who’d come to see her when she originally sent her plans to Alex. Lena tried to sit up and open her eyes at once, managing neither, and almost throwing herself from the bed in the process. A strong hand on her biceps stopped her.

 

“Miss Luthor. Relax. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You were groaning in your sleep. Would you like me to get a doctor?”

 

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Lena said, her cheeks heating up as she realised why she was groaning in her sleep. She had been dreaming about kissing Kara.

 

“Kara will be waking up soon. I bet she’ll be wanting to see you as soon as Alex lets her out of her sunbed,” Director Henshaw said.

 

“Thank you, Director. I would very much like to see her,” Lena said.

 

He smiled at her before wandering away, and Lena was left to wonder if he had been smirking at her. Because it kind of looked like he had been amused.

 

The memory that Director Henshaw was a telepath returned to her a few seconds later, and she had to bury her head under the blanket for a full five minutes until her blush abated.

 

She must have napped a little after that, because when she opened her eyes Kara was there, running her fingers through Lena’s hair, and it was like she was back in the dream again.

 

“Kara?” she whispered.

 

Kara put her finger over Lena’s lips. It reminded her of a specific part of the dream and she blushed fiercely.

 

“No talking. You’re still really sick,” Kara said, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.

 

“It’s okay, Kara. I’m totally fine. I might need a few months to heal, but it’s okay. You’re okay and that’s what matters,” Lena said, and she meant it.

 

“Lena. That’s… Rao!”

 

Kara was on her feet, suddenly, pacing. Lena watched her in confusion for a few seconds before Kara spoke again.

 

“Why are you so dumb?!” Kara exclaimed, turning to glare at Lena.

 

“What?” Lena shrank back, a little affronted by the word ‘dumb’, if she was honest.

 

“You’re so _dumb_ , Lena Luthor. You know what I was doing yesterday? I was fighting for you, Lena. Fighting to make sure that you would live. And there you are, trying to throw your life away for mine. I wasn’t even in any danger, Lena. Those radiation shields you designed, and the shot that Alex gave me? They made me pretty much invincible. So you setting off a grenade to protect me? That was just unnecessary. I could have beaten Rhea easily without it. And then you wouldn’t be 10% cyborg. Do you have any idea how much blood there was, Lena? I thought you were going to die right there, right in front of me,” Kara said, almost spitting out the words.

 

Lena tensed as Kara spoke, realising that Kara was right. The red sun grenade hadn’t really been necessary. But Lena had thought she was dead when Rhea stabbed her, so what difference did a bit more damage to her body really make?

 

“I… I’m sorry, Kara. Honestly, when I realised she was going to stab me I figured I was dead, anyway. So I thought I might as well weaken her. I guess I didn’t realise you would be so upset.”

 

Kara, who had been standing with her back to Lena, rounded on her, her eyes blazing (though not literally, Lena thought gratefully).

 

“You didn’t realise I would be so upset? Lena, you’re my best friend. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you! For such a smart person, you’re so dumb!”

 

Kara started muttering to herself, squeezing the bridge of her nose, and Alex chose that moment to walk in.

 

“Oh man. What did you say to her, Lena? I haven’t seen her do that since I told her NSYNC aren’t a band if they can’t play any instruments,” Alex said, a grin on her face.

 

“I just… she was telling me off for letting off that grenade, and I just said that I thought I was dead anyway, so why not weaken Rhea while I was at it, you know,” Lena said, rather reasonably, she thought.

 

Alex nodded.

 

“I understand, but Kara never will. She thinks it’s her job to sacrifice herself for everyone else, and takes it personally when anyone does it for her,” Alex said, shrugging. “You should have heard the argument we had after I rescued her from dying in space last year.”

 

Kara turned to glare at them both, and Lena had to suppress a giggle. Alex was deliberately goading her sister, and taking the focus off Lena as she did so. Lena was grateful, really. Kara’s unexpected anger was exhausting.

 

Somehow Alex managed to get Kara to leave and spend more time on her sunbed recuperating, and for once, Lena had to say she was honestly relieved at Kara’s absence. Her anger had been a slap in the face, considering that Lena had nearly died and had tried to save Kara with her dying breath. She sighed heavily, shifting in the bed to make herself more comfortable.

 

Alex returned to the room shortly afterwards and after a critical look at Lena, pushed some meds into her IV efficiently, and Lena drifted away without saying another word.

 

It was another two days before they let her leave the DEO, and only because she started threatening them with lawsuits. Though Director Henshaw’s face did suggest that he didn’t believe she would go through with it. (She wouldn’t have.)

 

It was a shock to find Kara Danvers waiting for her in the parking garage underneath the DEO building. Alex had insisted on pushing Lena in her wheelchair to the car that was waiting for her downstairs.

 

“So, Luthor. You need someone to be with you for the next couple of weeks, someone who will take you to physical therapy and help you with meals and getting dressed and all that fun stuff. And that someone is going to be Kara,” Alex announced, with a gleeful grin on her face.

 

“Absolutely not,” Lena said, her face set. Kara had been avoiding her since her outburst that first day, and Lena was not inclined to be charitable.

 

Kara was leaning against the car, a bag in one hand, fiddling with her glasses with the other. She wouldn’t look in Lena’s direction. Which begged the question, how was she going to be of any help in looking after Lena?

 

“I have enough money to hire people to assist me. I don’t need any help, thank you, Agent Danvers,” Lena said, feeling slightly hurt that Kara still didn’t look up at her.

 

“I’m not offering,” Alex said, puffing an errant hair out of her face irritably. “She is.”

 

Lena looked from Alex to Kara sceptically, rolling her eyes.

 

“Yes, I can see how eager she is,” Lena drawled. Alex sniggered.

 

“She’s got you there, Kar,” Alex said. She leaned over and hugged Lena unexpectedly, kissing her on the head. The unrestrained affection made Lena’s eyes fill. “She’s all yours, Luthor. Fight it out between yourselves. If you need anything, just call.”

 

She headed back to the DEO, leaving Lena sitting in a wheelchair a few feet away from a clearly reluctant Kara Danvers, who only needed to be scuffing her feet on the floor to be the image of a cartoon entitled ‘reluctant and awkward’.

 

“Goddammit,” Lena swore under her breath, and started laboriously attempting to push the wheelchair the last few feet herself, and finding herself far too physically weak to do so, a fact which knocked the wind out of her more effectively than the physical effort had.

 

She took a moment to catch her breath, her chest aching, while Kara continued her flawless impersonation of a Kara statue. Lena lifted her phone then, intending to call her health insurance company and ask them to have nurses sent to her penthouse immediately, but she suddenly found herself inside her car, phone no longer in her hand. A ‘clunk’ from behind her shed some light on where Kara was – putting Lena’s wheelchair in the trunk of the car. But where was her phone?

 

Kara got in the car and the driver – Stanley, Lena dimly thought, in between thoughts of annoyance and disbelief – started the engine and backed them out of the space and drove them out of the DEO parking garage.

 

“What the hell, Kara? First of all, Stanley might be old, but he’s not blind. He could easily have seen you do that! And where do you get off, manhandling me like that?” Lena demanded.

 

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to avoid the awkward conversation,” Kara muttered, so quickly and quietly that Lena almost missed it.

 

“Yeah. Great job, Kara. Nailed it,” Lena said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. Or how hurt she was. She wasn’t someone who cried – that would be showing weakness – but after the lengths she’d gone to she hadn’t expected this kind of response from Kara. Yes, Lena had nearly died, but the Daxamite invasion failed as a direct result of Lena’s actions. And not only that, but Queen Rhea of Daxam, she of the sweet words and sharp knives, was rotting in the DEO cells under a red sun lamp and surrounded by lead, hopefully for eternity. And Kara had a working prototype for a radiation shield that could save her from any more attacks from two-bit villains using kryptonite. Or red sun radiation. Surely that was enough to show that Lena meant well? Perhaps she’d been a bit cavalier with her own safety, but what did that matter? When had that ever mattered?

 

Lena turned her gaze to the world outside the dark tint of the windows, pretending to be fascinated by the world going by. If Kara wanted to avoid conversation, then avoid it they would.

 

Kara moved Lena at normal speed into her wheelchair when they arrived at Lena’s building. She was incredibly gentle, but silent, and so Lena stayed silent, too. Kara pushed her into the elevator where Lena’s usual security guard was bracketed by two tall DEO agents. Lena wondered if that was really necessary when Supergirl was literally pushing her around, but decided not to ask the question. What difference did it make, really? It’s not like anyone was listening to her, anyway, she decided.

 

Kara offered pain pills as soon as they reached Lena’s penthouse, which Lena took wordlessly. Lena waved a hand towards her bedroom and Kara pushed her into the room, hovering, her hands almost fluttering as she tried to decide whether she should stay and help Lena to change, or if she should go for the sake of Lena’s privacy. Lena took a deep breath and summoned what was left of her patience, given the circumstances and her increasing levels of pain and fatigue.

 

“Kara, I can’t change myself at the moment. If you truly want to assist me, then please do, but if not then please, call Jess and have her arrange a nursing service to come in. As I said, I can afford it, and this is not necessary,” Lena said, her voice as calm as she could make it. She had no more desire to be changed by a nurse than she had to eat her own feet spiced with barbecue sauce, but Kara didn’t have to know that. She would do what had to be done, and that was that.

 

“No, I… I’m here to help. What do you want to wear?” Kara said, breaking the longest silent streak Lena could ever remember witnessing since she’d met Kara. Lena indicated where her loosest, most comfortable clothes were, and Kara efficiently and painlessly helped Lena to change from one outfit to the other with the minimum of embarrassment.

 

“Hey, do you maybe want to watch some Netflix or something?” Kara asked, looking more like a puppy dog than ever, her head tilted and her blue eyes large and soulful. Lena cursed herself. She’d never been able to say no to Kara, not once since they met.

 

“Yes, that sounds nice, Kara,” Lena said, and Kara looked relieved, scooping Lena up in her arms and carrying her to the couch, where she arranged a footstool and enough cushions to bury a small island. She then fussed for twenty minutes over what snacks to make, eventually deciding to make a quick run for food from a local supermarket, since Lena seemed to only have healthy foods and that offended her. Lena tried to stay awake, she really did, but she couldn’t. The pain medication and the cushions and blankets were her undoing. She woke a little later to find Kara watching a musical intently. Something with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Lena thought dimly. Kara was eating a small mountain of popcorn as she sang along quietly with the movie.

 

“Hey,” Lena said, quietly, as she tried to lift herself up a little. She failed, her strength deserting her once again.

 

“Hey, you,” Kara said, putting the popcorn mountain to one side and moving quickly to lift Lena up, propping her up in a comfortable position using pillows. “How do you feel?”

 

“A little sore. And tired. And hungry, actually,” Lena said, and Kara nodded.

 

“Alex said you would be? Some of the drugs the DEO use are kind of… experimental. They take a lot of energy to work. You need plenty of protein, so I bought us plenty of different foods, so you don’t get bored,” Kara said.

 

“Thank you,” Lena said quietly. Kara nodded and went to the kitchen to cook. With her speed, the food was cooking within minutes, the knife blurring in her hand as she chopped zucchini and tomatoes and onions and peppers. It smelled delicious, and around ten minutes later Lena was presented with a delicious vegetable and cheese omelette with freshly baked bread from the deli across town that Lena loved. The thoughtfulness behind the gesture made Lena feel warm, somehow. She was still really pissed with Kara, but somehow she couldn’t be as annoyed as she would have liked when Kara was being so thoughtful.

 

The food was delicious, and Lena was tempted to ask why Kara didn’t cook all the time instead of eating takeout, but her chest and hip were starting to burn, so she took the pain pills Kara offered her without any resistance, slipping into another dreamless sleep.

 

The days passed in a sort of daze, until Lena had to start attending physical therapy. Her therapist was called Leon, and he was big and buff but slim rather than overly built. He was soft-spoken but insistent, and by the end of the first hour Lena was cursing him and swearing she’d have his entire family fired from their jobs. That she would literally buy every company who employed anyone he loved just to fire them. He just smiled at her and told her he’d see her the following day. She told him she’d see him in hell.

 

Kara was waiting outside and she helped Lena shower, not for the first time since she was injured. Kara was matter-of-fact and polite, ignoring the elephant in the room – Lena’s nakedness, that was – and getting the job done. When Lena’s driver picked them up, Kara watched Lena with a reproachful look on her face.

 

“What?” Lena snapped, eventually.

 

“Um… the things you said to Leon? Did you mean them?” Kara asked.

 

Lena sighed. She had probably sounded like a lunatic. She wasn’t sure she hadn’t _been_ a lunatic in that therapy room.

 

“I may have overreacted, a little,” Lena admitted, her cheeks reddening in shame.

 

“It’s okay, Lena. I think he’s used to that kind of reaction,” Kara said earnestly.

 

“I will have to apologise to him tomorrow,” Lena said, burying her head in her hands.

 

“Don’t say anything you don’t mean,” Kara said, somewhat wryly.

 

Her words were prophetic. Lena apologised at the beginning of her second session, and Leon smiled knowingly. By the end of the session, she had threatened to have her friend Supergirl throw him into the sun.

 

“See you tomorrow, Miss Luthor,” Leon said, with a small salute.

 

And so it continued. Leon helped Lena to re-learn how to use her hip joint, and Kara cared for her needs unfailingly. They never talked about the fight they’d had in the hospital. They lived together as if they’d been doing exactly that for years, and Lena began to think about how things would go when she healed. Kara would leave, and she’d be alone. Again.

 

LCorp was being run by Jess and some hand-picked staff members who Jess assured Lena were more than capable of taking on her old duties. Lena got daily updates, but other than that, the running of the company went on without her.

 

***

 

It was four weeks later, and Lena was able to walk, with a lot of pain, but almost entirely unaided. She had taken her first few steps, still holding onto the support bar in the therapy room, but mostly maintaining her own balance. She still cursed Leon during the session, but he just smiled in the easy way he always had, nodding his head and telling her he’d see her the next day.

 

Lena had had many breakdowns after her therapy sessions, crying in the shower or on the couch, Kara holding her patiently and carefully, drying her tears and making sure she had her pain pills and drank plenty of water. This day, however, she was practically gleeful as Kara pushed her in her wheelchair to the car.

 

“I took a few steps, Kara! I did it!” Lena said, twisting in her chair so that she could look back at Kara. Her smile was in danger of splitting her face in half.

 

“I saw,” Kara said, tapping her glasses. “You did amazing, Lena. I’m so proud of you.”

 

Kara kissed the top of her head and Lena turned back, smiling even more widely. Kara was proud of her.

 

They ate together as usual, watching Jessica Jones together, which Kara had never seen. Lena’s diet did consist of a lot more takeout food than she would have liked, but Kara did cook for the most part. It was domestic and peaceful and Kara was careful and looked after Lena better than any nurse would ever have done. There was something different about her, though. She wasn’t carefree Kara Danvers. She wasn’t as carefree with her touch, and she watched Lena with a sombre look on her face a lot of the time.

 

“Are we ever going to talk about what you said to me at the DEO?” Lena demanded, suddenly. She surprised herself a little.

 

“I… what do you mean? I don’t…” Kara trailed off, looking away, fiddling with her glasses.

 

“Kara. Are we going to talk about how you yelled at me for trying to protect you?” Lena asked, trying to be patient but failing. Kara knew exactly what she meant.

 

“I was emotional. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Kara said, mechanically. She turned her eyes back on the television screen. Lena switched off the television. She knew she was being petty, but so was Kara.

  
“Okay, Kara. We need to talk about this. I know you’ve been here this whole time and you’ve been looking after me and feeding me and making sure I get to my physical therapy. But you’re not acting like you. You’re not happy, so we need to talk about this. I don’t want to lose you, Kara Danvers,” Lena said, as earnestly as she knew how.

 

Kara turned her head, looking at Lena in disbelief.

 

“You don’t want to lose _me_? How about, I nearly lost you, Lena! And you didn’t even need to let off that damn grenade, Lena! I was safe, and yeah I would have had to fight with Rhea before I took her in, but I had that. I was safe, and you took a stupid risk and you nearly died, Lena! How can you even…?” Kara trailed off, tears running freely down her face. She was staring at her hands, looking as if she’d lost another planet.

 

“Kara, I thought I was dead. She was about to stab me in the chest and I knew you didn’t have time to stop her. I wanted to give you every advantage. You know that’s how I think. Strategic to the last. If I was dying, I wanted you to be safe. I won’t apologise for that, Kara. I care about you, and Rhea had every intention of killing you. I couldn’t let that happen,” Lena said, her head high and her eyes blazing. She meant every word. “If I had to do it again, Kara Danvers, I would do the same thing all over again, and I won’t apologise for that.”

 

Kara stared at her, tears dripping from her chin. Lena longed to reach over and wipe them away with her thumbs, but she sensed that her touch was not welcome just at that moment.

 

“Why would you do that, Lena? I was trying so hard to keep you safe, and you nearly died because I decided to date Mon-El and apparently got myself involved in some intergalactic version of Oedipus. Why would you do what you did? I nearly got you killed. When she stabbed you, Lena? I nearly burned her to ash right then. Why did you do that? Don’t you know how much it would hurt me to lose you?” Kara asked, tears falling once more from her eyes.

 

“Why, Kara? It’s not your responsibility to keep me alive. God knows it’s almost a full time job, these days,” Lena said, trying to make light of it.

 

“It’s not funny, Lena!” Kara almost roared. “I can’t lose you.”

 

“Kara. I would love to promise that I won’t leave you, that I won’t die, but you know I have no control over that. No-one does. But I don’t take it lightly, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just… I really thought I was dead. People don’t expect to walk away after being stabbed in the chest,” Lena said, taking Kara’s hand in hers gently.

 

“You… you’re just so flippant, Lena,” Kara complained weakly.

 

“I know, Kara. It’s my way of dealing with things. Now, tell me. What should I have done differently? I guess I could have thrown the grenade instead so it wouldn’t injure me. But to be entirely fair to me, I wasn’t thinking rationally,” Lena said, with a half-smile.

 

“That would have been a start,” Kara said, with an adorable pout. Lena wanted to suck that lower lip into her mouth, to bite it, to slip her tongue inside Kara’s mouth and make her gasp.

 

“Do you think that maybe you might be able to forgive me, Kara? I promise you, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I wasn’t trying to get killed. I was just trying to make sure that you were safe and that Rhea didn’t get away with invading the earth. I’m sorry if I hurt you or frightened you. That was not what I wanted. I just wanted to keep you safe, the way you’ve been keeping me safe ever since we met,” Lena said gently.

 

“I… okay, Lena. I understand. I would have done the same, I guess,” Kara said, a little reluctantly.

 

“Of course you would, you’re a hero. Can you blame me for trying to be like my favourite superhero, Supergirl?” Lena said teasingly.

 

“I… no,” Kara admitted, blushing brightly.

 

“So, am I forgiven?” Lena asked.

 

“Yes,” Kara said, almost whispering. Lena pulled Kara forward into a hug, and for the first time since she was injured, she received one of Kara Danvers’ hugs. It was wonderful and Lena wanted to stay in Kara’s arms forever. She had been lifted by Kara many times since her injury, but Kara hadn’t hugged her the way she used to every time they met. She hadn’t realised how much she had missed it. She sighed deeply, relaxing into Kara’s arms a little more.

 

She woke the next morning still on the couch with Kara wrapped around her. It was the first morning for a long time where she’d woken up and smiled. She turned and buried her face in Kara’s hair, falling asleep again almost immediately with Kara’s scent surrounding her.

 

They had a quiet breakfast together before Lena’s daily torture session with Leon. He was frowning by the half-way point of their therapy, because Lena hadn’t sworn at him once. She also hadn’t threatened his family, livelihood, or manhood. Clearly, something was wrong.

 

“Miss Luthor, let’s take a break,” Leon said, his frown deepening when Lena just smiled at him. “Is everything okay?” he asked, his voice a gentle rumble.

 

“Everything is… so much better,” Lena said.

 

“Have you had a reduction in pain?” Leon asked, not understanding.

 

“No, not really,” Lena said, shrugging. “It feels the same.”

 

“Are you aware that you haven’t called me a single name during this session, Lena?” he asked, concerned.

 

She turned to him, smiling so brightly that he almost didn’t recognise her. She didn’t look a bit like the heinous hellbeast he’d been dealing with for the past four weeks or so.

 

“I’m so sorry for my behaviour in the past, Leon. I think perhaps I have been taking some things out on you,” Lena said, touching his hand gently. “I will do my utmost to be polite and considerate from now on.”

 

“Okay,” Leon said, still confused. However, he got back to Lena’s therapy, watching in amazement as she did extra reps of almost every exercise without complaint or urging. Or swearing. Or death threats.

 

When Kara Danvers came in to pick Lena up, he understood. There was a radiance about both of them, as if they’d come to some sort of an understanding. He had seen them together every day, and they’d never been so… in tune with one another. Leon smiled, crossing his arms across his chest and rocking on his feet. Young love was a beautiful thing to witness. He made a mental note to call his boyfriend during his break, just to hear his voice. Love should never be taken for granted.

 

During the days that followed, Kara was almost back to her old self, cuddling with Lena on the sofa and even sleeping wrapped up with her some nights. They talked into the early hours of the morning about their lives, their pasts, the things they’d lost, the things they’d gained. And as it came closer to the time when Lena was going to be fully able to look after herself, she realised that letting Kara go back to her loft was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Despite the pain, despite everything that had happened, this had been one of the best times of Lena’s life, right up there with her best times with Jack, when they’d been right on the cusp of a breakthrough and had gone to bed together after a 20-hour day in the lab, having amazing sex and laughing together that way they always had. Kara made Lena laugh that same way - for different reasons, of course – but it gave her that carefree feeling that she’d previously associated only with Jack, who had been with her because he wanted to, not because he wanted something from her.

 

Lena sighed as she tried not to think too hard about Jack. She missed him, his absence causing a deep, throbbing ache in her chest when she thought about it too hard. He was a beautiful man, a beautiful mind, and his loss was a loss to the whole world, not just to Lena.

 

“Hey, you okay?” Kara asked. She was reading a book, her foot up on a footstool, while Lena lay full-length on the couch, her head in Kara’s lap.

 

“Yeah. I was just thinking about Jack. He was such an incredible man, Kara. I still can’t really believe that he’s gone,” Lena said, sighing again. She knew that one day it wouldn’t hurt so much, but Jack’s loss was profound. He was one of very few people in her life who had believed in her implicitly.

 

“I’m so sorry, Lena. You’ve barely even had time to absorb losing Jack, with everything. And I… I never got a chance to say thank you. For saving me,” Kara said, her face falling.

 

“No, Kara, I… I don’t want you to feel bad. That whole thing, it was just… it was Jack’s fault, Kara, in the first place. You don’t experiment on yourself, not if you want to ever see your product on the market. He was desperate and he made a mistake and it cost him his life. There was never any real decision, Kara. It was save Supergirl, who’d come to save my life, or save Jack, who never would have been able to be free of those nanobots. I made the right choice,” Lena said, resolutely.

 

“I… thank you, Lena. I’m so sorry that you lost him. It looked a little like you and he were… rekindling something?” Kara said. She was running her fingers through Lena’s hair gently, and Lena was trying not to let out a groan of pleasure at the feeling.

 

“Are you asking me or telling me, Kara?” Lena asked, a gentle smile on her face.

 

Kara fiddled with her glasses, twitching a little nervously.

 

“I… um, asking? If you want to tell me, because you absolutely don’t have to tell me a thing, and it’s totally your own business and I would never push,” Kara said.

 

Lena took Kara’s hand in hers and laced their fingers together.

 

“Kara. You’re my best friend. I want to tell you. To be honest, there was… something, between us, still. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. We always had great chemistry. But if I’m honest I don’t think it would have gone anywhere, even if that bitch hadn’t whammied him,” Lena said.

 

Kara fiddled with her glasses some more before speaking. Lena bit her lip to keep from smiling. It was such a cute habit, and she found it difficult not to make a squeeing noise when Kara did it.

 

“That’s… I’m sorry, Lena,” Kara said, frowning. “But, um, why? Why wouldn’t it have gone anywhere?” Kara asked, her fingers playing with Lena’s idly.

 

“Do you really not know, Kara?” Lena asked, sitting up so that she could look Kara in the eye.

 

“What? Know what? What would I know?” Kara asked, reddening, but she was looking directly at Lena now, and her eyes were darkening.

 

“You don’t have any idea why I might not have had the same feelings for Jack? You don’t have a single clue, Kara Zor-El?” Lena said, her voice quiet that Kara probably had to employ her super-hearing to pick it up.

 

“I… I don’t know,” Kara said, her eyes widening.

 

Lena looked at her for a long moment as Kara reddened even more – something Lena wouldn’t have thought possible, before – before smiling gently.

 

“If you ever work out why that might be, Kara, you let me know, okay?” she said, her tone gentle and her eyes soft. She cupped Kara’s jaw for a second, looking at her intently, before lying down in her previous position with her head in Kara’s lap. Kara resumed running her fingers through Lena’s hair, but Lena could practically hear the wheels turning in her head.  For some reason, Lena felt incredibly serene in that moment, for the first time perhaps since the Daxamite invasion, and she fell asleep with Kara’s fingers running through her hair, safe and secure in the arms of the woman she loved.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FInal chapter. Lena is rehabilitated and returns to work, only to be visited by an old acquaintance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter to finish - I should possibly have split this up into two parts, but I couldn't be bothered so you get it all in one go. Thank you all for reading :) Also, there is a brief threat of rape in this chapter, so read with caution.

* * *

 

Lena was almost fully rehabilitated – she would need to continue with physical therapy for at least a few more months, but she was able to walk and stand almost as normal, with pain only becoming an issue if she pushed things. Of course Kara had argued that she shouldn’t go back to work, but Lena was a workaholic and while she had enjoyed her time with Kara for the most part, she was ready to get back to real life.

 

Her first day back was uneventful, simply getting back into the swing of things and catching up on what she’d missed, meeting with the board to assure them that she was ready to take the reins again, and checking through her emails to check what was still relevant before deleting the other thousand or so that were no longer relevant.

 

Kara made her a lovely meal for her first night back, her favourite pasta dish with her favourite wine and an amazing chocolate cake. Kara had lit candles and hung fairy lights and Lena’s formerly cold apartment felt like a romantic fairy grotto with her there. They ate together, cuddled on the couch watching Netflix, and then Kara massaged Lena’s lower back and hip to loosen up the tension there – something that had been recommended by Leon. It didn’t feel like a therapeutic massage, though. It felt like something much more intimate and Lena was indecently aroused by the whole thing. Judging from the colour of Kara’s face afterwards, she was, too.

 

They slept in the same bed that night, Kara curled around Lena like her own personal radiator/cushion. It felt different, that night. It felt like the beginning of something.

 

Given that things were going so well, Lena felt oddly tense, heading to her office the next day. Something felt wrong and she couldn’t work out why. It was around midday and she was looking into some unusual activity in the R&D team’s accounts when she heard a thud on the balcony behind her. She expected it to be Kara, of course. She was about to turn and greet her when her phone began to ring. She glanced at the display just as she was about to stand up, and was confused and surprised to see Kara’s name on the screen. She froze.

 

“Good afternoon, Lena.”

 

It was Rhea’s voice. Lena squared her shoulders and turned to look at the former Queen of Daxam.

 

“Rhea. I understood that you were in prison,” Lena said, her face neutral. She wasn’t frightened. She was tired of people threatening her, tired of being seen as prey by people like her mother and her brother. And this horrible, horrible woman who had preyed on Lena’s need for love, her need for a mother figure who gave a crap about her.

 

“My son felt sorry for me. Unfortunately, he’s a terrible judge of character. I killed him, just like his father. Daxam needs strong leadership, which means I’m going to have to have more children and raise them right, this time. And you’re going to be right there with me, Lena. I was going to kill you, but I do _so_ admire that mind of yours. And Daxam has no problem with women marrying. Our wedding will go ahead as soon as we transport to my cruiser. I have had to abandon the invasion of earth for now, but in ten years or so, once my people have built themselves back up, and our Royal Family is strong again? You will witness the fall of earth by my side, my love,” Rhea said, circling Lena like a lioness stalking her prey. Lena felt the blood drain from her face. The woman was deranged. Rhea ran one finger along Lena’s jaw.

 

“You are such a pretty thing, Lena Luthor. No wonder Supergirl is so enamoured of you,” Rhea said, and to Lena’s horror she appeared to be leaning in for a kiss. Lena pulled back, and was suddenly held in a grip of iron.

 

“You have no choice anymore, Lena. You’re mine, to do with what I please,” Rhea said, smiling and almost hissing the words through her teeth. “You will pay for what you’ve done many times before I’m done breaking you.”

 

Lena saw red, and suddenly remembered the modifications she’d made to her office. The switch was in her pocket. She just had to distract Rhea long enough to press it.

 

“You know, Rhea, I would have thought that you would prefer someone a little closer to your own age,” Lena spat. “Someone of your advanced years surely needs a partner who understands the limitations of age. And it’s a little sad, don’t you think? Robbing the cradle for a partner? People will laugh,” Lena said, mockingly, laughing a little herself.

 

Rhea glared at her.

 

“I may be a little older than you, Lena Luthor, but you will soon find out that it is you who will need help keeping up with me,” Rhea said, grabbing Lena’s hair and pulling her head back. She ran her tongue along the edge of Lena’s ear, making her shiver in disgust. However, the distraction was enough that Lena had a chance to touch the small remote in her pocket. The lights in the office switched off, being replaced by full strength red sun lamps.

 

“Did you know, Rhea, that between my brother and my mother, my life has been threatened eight times in the last few months? And then there was my ex-boyfriend, who was mind-controlled and his CFO who tried to turn me into a mindless drone. And then you, of course. But given the other instances, I thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to defend myself. Do you want to find out how those lessons went?” Lena asked, grinning wolfishly at Rhea, who had drawn back in confusion when the red lights switched on.

 

“What do you…”

 

Lena punched Rhea in the face, hard enough to knock the woman to the floor. The now very human-strength woman.

 

Rhea tried to get up, so Lena kicked her in the knee as she tried to stand, causing a sickening crunch. Rhea went down again, and didn’t try to get up this time. Lena moved to her desk to pull out a gun she had in her drawer. She pointed it at Rhea, picking up her phone at the same time. She brought up Kara’s number and called her back. Kara’s phone went to voicemail, so she called Alex.

 

“Lena! Are you okay? We’ve been trying to call. Rhea’s escaped. Someone set the Children’s hospital on fire as a diversion; that’s where Kara is.”

 

“I know about Rhea,” Lena said flatly. “She’s here, on the floor of my office. Could you send someone to take her back to whatever black site you have been keeping her in?”

 

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

 

“You took her down yourself?” Alex asked.

 

“I had some red sun lamps installed in my office just in case she ever decided to come after me,” Lena said. Rhea glared at her, and Lena cocked the gun with her thumb. “Alex, I have to go. Please, come and get this bitch before I lose my patience and kill her.”

 

Rhea looked frightened for the first time since Lena had met her. She had always been serene, supportive, and then smug. Frightened was a better look on her, in Lena’s opinion.

 

Lena sat down on the edge of her desk, resting her hip and watching Rhea carefully.

 

“Why did you come after me? It would have been easier to just transport to your ship than to come here. Are you that crazy that you just had to get your revenge on me?” Lena asked, her face impassive.

 

“Oh, Lena,” Rhea said, half-sitting, gingerly ensuring that there was no weight on her damaged leg. “I killed my own son, who I loved, simply because it was easier. I was not lying when I told you that my affection for you is real. That is the real reason I came here before going back to my ship,” Rhea said, almost pleading for Lena to believe her.

 

“You know, perhaps if you hadn’t just threatened me with rape I would have believed you, Rhea,” Lena said acerbically.

 

“Oh darling, it wouldn’t have been rape. We both know you want it as much as I…” Rhea said, a smirk breaking out on her face. Lena felt the blood drain from her face once more.

 

“You sicken me, Rhea of Daxam. I hope you never see the sun again,” Lena said. “In fact, I’m going to work with the DEO to find a permanent way to get rid of your extra abilities, assuming that they don’t just execute you for your crimes once you’re brought to trial.”

 

Rhea looked surprised and was about to say something else when Alex Danvers and her team finally broke through the huge doors to Lena’s office.

 

“Lena. Thank God you’re okay,” Alex said breathlessly, gesturing sharply at several of her team who secured Rhea with lead cuffs on her wrists and ankles before dragging her out of the office. Rhea didn’t say a word, just watched Lena with hooded eyes, and it made Lena’s blood run cold.

 

“Are you okay, Lena?” Alex asked.

 

“I’m fine,” Lena said, putting her gun back into her desk drawer and switching the lights back to normal again. She put her arms round her abdomen, holding herself tightly, trying not to think about what would have happened had Rhea been able to transport them to her cruiser rather than toying with Lena beforehand.

 

Alex lifted Lena’s chin gently with one hand – the other was holding a complicated looking rifle – and looked her in the eye.

 

“You don’t look okay, Lena,” she said.

 

“She was going to take me to Daxam, to make me her… consort, I suppose? She was just telling me how much she was going to enjoy breaking me,” Lena said tonelessly.

 

“Oh, God Lena. I’m so sorry,” Alex said, pulling her into a hug. The Danvers sisters hugged like the world was ending, and Lena had never been able to get used to the way it felt. But right then she needed the comfort, and she had to choke back tears as she thought about how close she’d come to being… well. It didn’t bear thinking about.

 

“Thank you, Alex. You Danvers girls give the best hugs,” Lena said, pulling back and wiping her eyes, where some tears had spilled out despite her best efforts.

 

“You’ve been through a lot, Lena. Let me take you home. I’ll let Kara know to meet you there, okay?” Alex said. Lena just nodded, exhausted.

 

It took fifteen minutes or so for Alex’s DEO driver to cut through traffic and get them home. Alex pulled Lena towards her and somehow she found herself asleep, her head on Alex’s shoulder, until Alex woke her to escort her up to her Penthouse. As they were about to step through the building’s front door, they heard a familiar sound and looked up to see Supergirl flying by.

 

“She’s here. You’ll be safe now, Lena,” Alex said soothingly.

 

“Thank you,” Lena said, her voice quiet and flat.

 

It took the elevator a few minutes to get to Lena’s floor, and Alex stayed close to Lena the whole time. It was very comforting. Lena hadn’t spent a lot of time with Alex, but her presence was solid and she exuded serenity and concern.

 

When they reached the apartment, Kara rushed to Lena’s side, throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around Lena. Lena felt her bones creak.

 

“You’re okay. I can’t believe I couldn’t come to you right away. She set a children’s hospital on fire, Lena. I am so sorry,” Kara breathed into Lena’s ear.

 

“It’s okay, Kara. I would never want you to come for me instead of kids in a hospital. You know that,” Lena said, extricating herself from Kara’s hold gently and going to sit on the couch, exhausted.

 

“Are you okay? Is she okay, Alex? Did Rhea hurt you?” Kara asked, pacing back and forth in her Supergirl regalia, her cape billowing out behind her.

 

“She… it’s okay. She didn’t get to hurt me. I had a few tricks up my sleeve,” Lena said dully.

 

“Let me make you some tea, Lena,” Alex said, making a gesture that Lena supposed was meant to be subtle, but really wasn’t. She heard Alex whispering to Kara, and then Kara was in front of Lena, checking her for damage.

 

“I… did she hurt you? Did she touch you, Lena? I’ll kill her, I swear by Rao I will END her!” Kara said, almost screaming, and the veins around her eyes were glowing red. Lena shrank back.

 

“Kara. You’re scaring her. Kara, calm down. She’s had enough drama for one day. Just, calm down.”

 

Alex was holding Kara back, pulling her away from Lena, and then Kara fell to her knees on Lena’s living room rug, weeping in Alex’s arms.

 

“It’s okay, Kara. Lena’s right here, she’s safe. We’re all safe, and Rhea is locked up again, with double the usual guard on her. It’s over,” Alex said.

 

It was a while before Kara calmed down, and in the meantime Lena kicked off her shoes and lay back on the couch, her head tipped back. She stared at the ceiling as she tried to let the events of the day settle in. Rhea was going to make Lena her consort – assuming that it wasn’t all just an act to frighten Lena. She had certainly been convincing. And the scary part was that if Rhea had offered a more… intimate relationship before Lena had known what she was like? She might have taken her up on it. Because she was _so_ fucking lonely. And affection was affection.

 

Alex quietly convinced Kara to go and shower, and then she sat next to Lena on the couch.

 

“I… I’m sorry if Kara frightened you, just now. She is very protective of you. When everything happened the first time – when you were being operated on after Rhea nearly killed you – Kara lost it. She almost went to kill Rhea. I had to threaten her with Kryptonite to stop her, Lena. I’m telling you this now because I don’t want you to misunderstand me. Kara cares about you, a lot. She was devastated when you were hurt, and that whole thing where she got angry at you? It was her trying to deal with all of those feelings. But you don’t ever need to be scared, okay? She would never hurt you,” Alex said.

 

“I know,” Lena said dully. “I know she wouldn’t.”

 

“Good. And I know that you care about her, so, just - take care of each other, okay? This day has been pretty horrible for her, too. Mon-El might have been a douche but he was still her boyfriend for a while and he’s dead, now,” Alex said.

 

“I will,” Lena said. Alex left her for a moment and came back with the cup of tea she’d offered earlier. Lena sipped on it gratefully, feeling the warmth fill her.

 

It was a while later when Kara returned from the shower. She was wearing cute pyjamas with bunnies on them, and Lena had a moment where she struggled to reconcile this Kara with Supergirl, the alien demi-goddess who’d been storming around her living room not an hour before. The two images did not compute with one another, and Lena was reminded of why it had taken her so long to realise that Kara was Supergirl in the first place. Her disguise was a little thin, perhaps, but it worked because Kara Zor-El was nothing like Kara Danvers, at least on the surface.

 

“I ordered you guys some food,” Alex said, into the silence. Kara was standing still, looking nervous and a little lost. Lena was lost in thought, and Alex’s words made her jump.

 

“Thank you, Alex,” Lena said. She looked at Kara and patted the couch beside her. Kara moved to her side in a blur, tucking herself into Lena’s side, her head on Lena’s shoulder.

 

“I should leave you guys to it. Kara, take care of Lena. She had a rough day,” Alex said, leaning over to kiss Kara and then Lena on the forehead.

 

There was quiet between them for a little while, and Lena was glad to just take comfort from Kara’s proximity and touch. There was a knock at the door and their food arrived, and for a while there was just the usual noises associated with dinner, forks clinking against plates and murmurs about how good the food was. Then they were finished, and Lena excused herself to shower. When she was done she got dressed in her most comfortable PJs, so worn that they were almost (but not quite) see-through. She found the lights already off and Kara curled up in her bed, waiting for her.

 

“Hey,” Lena said, quietly, climbing in next to Kara.

 

“Hey,” Kara said, taking her hand absently and running her thumb across Lena’s palm. “Are you okay?”

 

“I don’t think I even know how to answer that question right now, Kara,” Lena said wearily.

 

“Yeah. Me neither,” Kara said, looking up at the ceiling. Her eyes were a million miles away.

 

“I’m sorry about Mike. Mon-El, I mean,” Lena said. She meant it. She hadn’t liked the guy; never thought he was good enough for Kara. But she hadn’t wanted him to die.

 

“I wish he hadn’t had to die. He had a lot of good in him,” Kara said, sighing.

 

Lena just nodded, not wanting to disagree. She didn’t think he’d been a good man at all, but it wasn’t nice to speak ill of the dead.

 

“Did Rhea really… did she threaten you, like Alex said?” Kara blurted suddenly.

 

“Yes,” Lena said, pulling her hand away gently and hugging her abdomen unconsciously. “It’s true. I don’t know if she was just trying to frighten me, but it definitely seemed like she meant it.”

 

“I would never let that happen. You know that, right?” Kara said.

 

“I know you would try, Kara. But she’s relentless. She never seems to give up, and whatever she wants with me, she seems… obsessed. I just hope the DEO are able to keep her locked up this time,” Lena said, her teeth clenching and her body trembling.

 

Kara moved closer and rubbed Lena’s arm vigorously, trying to warm her up.

 

“I will always keep you safe. I promise,” Kara said.

 

“Kara, I appreciate you saying that. But not everything is in your control. She could do what she did today, distract you by hurting civilians, and you will always go to them first. That’s who you are, and I would never want you to change that,” Lena said, cupping Kara’s cheek in her hand, looking Kara in the eye intently. “You are my hero, whether you’re Supergirl or Kara Danvers, and I know you’d save me if you could. But you can’t be everywhere at once. So let’s just try and get through this, one day at a time.”

 

“One day at a time,” Kara repeated, nodding. “I can do that. We can do that.”

 

“Good,” Lena said. She managed a wan smile, dredging it up from somewhere, but all she wanted to do was sleep. Kara must have realised, because she pulled Lena close to her, wrapping their bodies up together, and kissed her on the forehead before wishing her a good night. Lena sleepily reciprocated before sleep pulled her under.

 

She was woken up a while later – how long, she couldn’t say – by Kara’s whimpering. Lena opened her eyes with difficulty, finding that the room was lit with a white light. She was momentarily confused until she looked at Kara, and saw that her heat vision was threatening, the veins around her eyes red, and her eyes themselves invisible behind a nearly-blinding white light.

 

“Kara. Kara? Kara, wake up, honey. It’s just a dream,” Lena said, stroking Kara’s arm lightly, angling her body away from Kara’s eyes, just in case she did lose control and let her heat vision go. Kara didn’t wake, continuing to whimper and make occasional sounds. Lena carried on stroking her arm helplessly, talking in nonsense syllables, trying to get Kara to come back to her.

 

“Don’t TOUCH her!” Kara screamed, and her heat vision blasted a hole in the roof of Lena’s room. Plaster fell around them, but it appeared that the blast hadn’t been strong enough to go through the roof of the building. Lena was panicking, however, because Kara could destroy this apartment if she didn’t wake up. She could destroy the _building_.

 

Lena touched Kara’s face, lightly cupping her cheek, and Kara seemed to calm down a little, though she was still muttering under her breath.

 

“It’s okay, Kara. She’s safe,” Lena said, not sure who was featuring in Kara’s nightmare.

 

“LENA! Don’t leave me, please, don’t leave me…” Kara yelled, her heat vision dying away and being replaced by open, unseeing blue eyes.

 

“I’m right here, Kara,” Lena said, leaning to kiss Kara on the cheek. Kara turned her head into the movement, and Lena touched the edge of Kara’s lips. It made her gasp, and she moved away a little. But then Kara’s hand was at the back of her neck, pulling her in, and then Lena was kissing Kara Danvers. It was light at first but then it became frenzied, Kara sinking her teeth into Lena’s lip and moaning loudly. Lena felt like her veins were on fire. Kara was _kissing_ her. But Kara wasn’t even conscious. This was not consensual, however pleasant it was, so Lena braced herself and pulled away.

 

She found herself suddenly on her back, her wrists pinned to the pillow on either side of her head, and Kara’s mouth on her neck. The sudden reversal made her head spin.

 

“Kara?” she whimpered out, her back arching as Kara sucked on her neck. “Kara, are you awake?”

 

Kara moved away from her neck and claimed Lena’s mouth again, hungrily, her tongue slipping inside Lena’s mouth easily and making Lena groan. It was too much. She couldn’t stop this, she didn’t have the willpower. She didn’t _want_ to stop this. But she had to, didn’t she?

 

She couldn’t make herself pull away, but she did try to wake Kara, running her hands down Kara’s sides, shaking her shoulders a little, moving underneath her. She felt the exact moment when Kara woke up. The body on top of hers stiffened, and Kara scrambled back as if she’d been burned, almost falling off the bed in her haste.

 

“Lena? What… What happened?” Kara said, looking utterly confused.

 

Lena took a deep breath. It was hard to speak; she felt like she’d been ravished in the best way and now Kara was staring at her, not knowing what was happening.

 

“I… you were having a nightmare, Kara. You put a hole in the ceiling, with your heat vision. I tried to wake you, and…” Lena trailed off.

 

Kara was looking at the hole in the ceiling, her hand on her mouth.

 

“I’m so sorry, Lena. I’ll fix it right away. I’m so sorry. But… what? How… why was I?” Kara trailed off then, reddening.

 

Lena sighed. Best to rip off the bandaid, right?

 

“You kissed me, Kara. You were kissing me, and I was trying to wake you. And then you did wake up, so there’s no harm done, okay?” Lena said.

 

Kara’s eyes filled with tears.

 

“I’m so sorry, Lena. I… I can’t believe I did that to you. Did I… did I hurt you, anywhere? I can’t believe I did that without… you didn’t want… Rao, Lena, I’m so sorry. I should go, you shouldn’t have to be around me after I did that to you,” Kara said, noticing the marks she’d left on Lena’s neck.

 

Kara was already getting up, searching for her clothes so she could change and leave. Lena got out of bed quickly and went to Kara, grabbing her hands and forcing Kara to look at her.

 

“Kara. Come and sit with me. Please. Don’t go, not like this,” Lena said, putting on her best pout. She knew Kara was powerless against it, in the same way that she was powerless against Kara’s.

 

“Okay,” Kara said, after a moment. There were tears trickling down her face.

 

Lena pulled Kara to sit on the end of the bed beside her.

 

“Kara, you didn’t hurt me. In fact, you didn’t do anything that I didn’t want you to. Aside from maybe blowing a hole in my ceiling. You had a dream, and you wanted to protect me, and I guess that brought… other instincts to the fore. Believe me, Kara. If you had hurt me or frightened me in any way, I would tell you. But you didn’t,” Lena said, insistently.

 

Kara looked at her doubtfully. Her eyes were so beautiful, sparkling even in the mostly dark room.

 

“Lena, I…”

 

Lena shook her head.

 

“No apologies, Kara. Did you mean to do any of this?” she asked, gesturing vaguely at the ceiling and the bed.  

 

Kara shook her head.

 

“Then no apologies are necessary. Though I would appreciate it if you could fix the ceiling tomorrow, perhaps?” Lena said, teasingly.

 

Kara blushed, looking down at her hands.

 

“So, should we go back to sleep?” Lena said, hoping that they could move on and she could forget how it felt to have Kara lying on top of her.

 

“Um, well. There is one more thing? I think maybe we should talk about… the kissing?” Kara said, and Lena was tempted to ask if it was a question or a statement. However, she just took a deep breath.

 

“Is that… did you want to talk about it, Kara?” Lena said carefully.

 

“Well, you said that… you said that I didn’t do anything you didn’t want me to. Does that mean…?” Kara looked at her uncertainly.

 

“That I wanted you to kiss me? Yes,” Lena said, too tired and irritated to be anything but blunt. “I thought I had made that clear already.”

 

Kara stared at her, adjusting non-existent glasses.

 

“You do? Want me to kiss you?”

 

“Yes,” Lena said, again.

 

“Okay,” Kara said.

 

And then Kara was kissing her, and Lena, who was having severe emotional whiplash, didn’t kiss back for a second, her brain not quite catching up with events. Kara drew back, frowning.

 

“Did I… did I do it better when I was asleep?” she asked, pouting adorably. Lena laughed.

 

“No, sweetheart. I think… it’s been a bit of a crazy night. My brain wasn’t quite keeping up,” Lena said fondly. She leaned forward and kissed Kara gently. “Could we maybe get back in bed?”

 

“Of course,” Kara smiled, and there was a ‘whoosh’ and Lena found herself in bed, Kara’s arm underneath her neck. Kara’s face was inches from hers.

 

“You are so beautiful, Lena Luthor,” Kara said, looking awed.

 

“Says the woman who half the world wants to be, and the other half wants to sleep with,” Lena deadpanned. Kara blushed and swatted at Lena’s arm.

 

“That’s… that is so not true,” Kara said bashfully.

 

“Sure, Supergirl,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “No-one has ever propositioned you, or asked to see what’s under that little red skirt, I’m sure.”

 

“Well, that’s possibly true, but Supergirl is an ideal, and she doesn’t respond to things like that,” Kara said, drawing herself up into her most Kryptonian pose. She looked snooty and a little ridiculous in her fluffy pyjamas. Lena kissed her, hard, and swallowed Kara’s whimper of surprise. It made her feel powerful, that she had managed to make the Girl of Steel whimper. She ran her hands through Kara’s hair. She’d always loved Kara’s hair, and had always longed to take it out of its elaborate braids and run her hands through it, long before she’d known Kara was Supergirl.

 

Kara was kissing her back enthusiastically, one hand touching her back reverently, and the other finding its way into Lena’s hair, scratching at her scalp. Lena’s scalp was sensitive, and feeling Kara touch it in this context was driving her crazy. Kara nipped at her lip, and the combination of her hand in Lena’s hair and the small bite was enough to send her heart thundering. Her grip tightened in Kara’s hair. Kara let out a small gasp and Lena smiled in satisfaction.

 

Kara’s hand on her back was wandering a little, but not far enough for Lena’s liking, so she grabbed Kara’s other hand and pulled it to her breast, encouraging her to squeeze gently. Kara made a small moaning noise and then moved her lips to Lena’s neck, kissing and biting her way along Lena’s jaw. It was exquisite and Lena was squirming from the joy of it. Because it was Kara who wanted her like this, and she’d never believed it would happen. She’d put Kara in the “straight friend” box and that was that. But the hand on her breast seemed to disagree.

 

Lena rolled so that she was on top of Kara. She took off her t-shirt impatiently, baring her chest, and Kara stared at her in awe before pulling Lena back down for a kiss, her hands finding their way to Lena’s breasts. After that it became a blur of bodies and tongues and fingers, and Lena lost count of how many times she’d come by the time she was too tired to carry on. Kara was incredibly responsive, too, and had come undone at Lena’s hand at least twice. Falling asleep with her body entwined with a naked Kara Danvers was something that Lena had never expected. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d been happier, and it occurred to her that she’d been thinking that a lot since she met Kara. She let herself go, falling into the waves of exhaustion with Kara murmuring to her in Kryptonese.

 

***

 

It had been six months since the Daxamite invasion. The President had decided to give medals to those involved in saving the city, and the ceremony was due later that day. That included Supergirl, Guardian, the DEO, Cat Grant – and Lena Luthor. Lena, who had spent most of her time since her return to LCorp perfecting the transmatter portals and setting up permanent portals between flood-prone areas and those afflicted with drought. Famine was on the way to becoming eradicated due to the ease of transporting food and medicine to previously unreachable areas. Security was an issue, of course, but the President had set up co-operative forces from the UN and the countries in distress to ensure that the food and medicine went to those who needed it. There were countless other uses for the portals, and private sales of the technology were more than paying for all of the charitable causes Lena was spending LCorp’s money on. And the publicity was doing what Lena had always dreamed of – it was changing the name Luthor from a negative to a positive. Kara had cried when she heard that Lena was to get a medal alongside Supergirl. (Lena may have shed a tear or two herself.)

 

Kara strode in from their bedroom in her new uniform, designed by LCorp in tandem with the DEO. The skirt was gone (but Lena had persuaded Kara to keep it for their more… private moments), replaced by a more sensible pair of trousers. The cape would come off immediately if pulled, to ensure that it wasn’t used as a weapon against Kara. There were numerous shields built into the suit, to keep Kara safe from all of the known types of Kryptonite and the radiation of a red sun. Clark’s uniform had been similarly upgraded, meaning that fights with the earth’s various supervillains had become rather short. Lex had escaped from prison once and tried to kill Superman with a newly discovered type of Kryptonite. This gold Kryptonite was supposed to take away a Kryptonian’s powers, but the shielding already in place in Superman’s uniform had blocked the radiation for long enough that he was able to knock out Lex and his goons without much of a fuss. Lex was back in Cell Block X by dinnertime.

 

“Are you almost ready?” Kara asked, her eyes sparkling as she took in the suit that Lena had made for the ceremony.

 

“Yes,” Lena said, putting in her earrings and enjoying the view of the figure-hugging uniform on her Kryptonian. “Shall we?” she asked brightly, stepping into her heels and offering her arm to Kara.

 

They made their way to the Park where the ceremony was set to take place. It was the same park where Lena had made her (very short) speech about renaming LuthorCorp. She hoped this experience would be a little more positive. People gaped a little at seeing Lena walking arm-in-arm with a superhero, but it wasn’t anything that hadn’t been in magazines and newspapers all over the country. Lena Luthor was in a relationship with Kara Danvers of CatCo, sure, but Supergirl was one of her closest friends and was known to ask for seek Lena’s advice when it came to difficult technical matters. Supergirl had more than made this clear in many interviews since the Daxamite invasion had failed so spectacularly.

 

The ceremony was long but there was a huge crowd and the atmosphere was electric. The applause was genuine and just as loud when the President pinned a medal to Lena’s chest as it had been when she pinned one to Supergirl’s. Lena looked out at the crowd of smiling faces and was stunned to see that not a single person looked unhappy to see her there. Her life had changed immensely in the last eighteen months, and it was all because of Kara Danvers.

 

They had dinner with the rest of the gang, including Cat Grant and her son, and Lena felt something that she had been feeling more and more since meeting Kara and becoming a part of this group. Not only was she happy, but she felt _safe_. None of the smiles on the faces around her held any hidden agendas. None of them were waiting until they were behind closed doors to tell Lena what they really thought. On the rare occasions when Lena disagreed with Alex or Maggie or any of the Superfriends, they hashed it out over a beer or scotch or, when things were really bad, a game of Settlers of Catan presided over by Cat.

 

It had been a long journey, but Lena Luthor was happy and safe for the first time since her adoption by the Luthors. She looked at Kara next to her, and saw that Kara’s cheeks were bulging with food. Lena rolled her eyes in response. No matter how many times they ate, Kara always ate like she was in prison. It was infuriating and endearing in equal measure.

 

She let the warmth of the group surround her, sinking into it, and finished her food before moving to the floor of Cat’s living room to play board games. Or, ‘victory board games’ as Kara had insisted on dubbing them on this particular night. The night was riotous and hilarious, and when Kara took them home on the Supergirl express (Lena rolled her eyes again at that) Lena spent the whole journey staring at her, starry-eyed.

 

“What have you been staring at this whole time, Ms Luthor?” Kara asked flirtatiously, kissing Lena before putting her down on the balcony of their penthouse.

 

“Just the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” Lena answered, and was awarded with a full-on blush in response. It had been a while since she’d been able to elicit that much of a blush from Kara, so she was delighted by it.

 

“You are dangerous, Lena Luthor,” Kara said, leaning down a little to kiss her.

 

“Yep, that’s me. Luthor to the core,” Lena said dryly.

 

“That’s true. You’re a true Luthor, by which I mean a genius, benevolent billionaire, inventor extraordinaire, gal pal to Supergirl, no less, and National City’s most eligible bachelorette one year running, but only because Kara Danvers managed to snag you before you could win it again,” Kara said, kissing Lena again. This kiss lasted a little longer, and Lena could feel heat rising to her face.

 

“I love you, Kara,” she said, blurting it out. It wasn’t the first time she’d said it – far from it – but it felt truer than it ever had.

 

“I love you too, Lena,” Kara said, looking a little puzzled by how fervently Lena had declared her love.

 

“Sorry. I’m being sentimental. But after today – I just… you’ve changed my life, Kara. I’ve never been this happy before.”

 

“You’ve changed mine, Lena. It’s not just you who has never been happier,” Kara said. “I love you more than anything. I never thought I’d be happy again after I lost my home, but you proved me wrong.”

 

“I’m so glad, darling. I love you so much,” Lena said, kissing Kara again, more deeply. As Kara lifted her off her feet and floated them into the bedroom, still kissing her, Lena smiled inwardly. Who would have thought it? A Super and a Luthor, in love?

 

Lena Luthor might have been nobody’s fool, but she was, it appeared, a fool for love.


End file.
